Markey Launches Investigation into Oil Companies' Involvement in Interior Dept. Scandal

 


WASHINGTON (September 15, 2008) - Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) has launched an investigation into the growing scandal involving members of the Bush administration's Interior Department oil division. Chairman Markey sent letters late Friday to the heads of the oil companies involved in the scandal, probing the companies' knowledge of the unethical dealings between oil company officials and the regulators.


"Sniffing out the bad actors in the Bush administration's oil division is important, but we need to be just as vigilant with the companies involved in this crude distortion of government ethics," said Rep. Markey, who chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. "It takes two to tango, and the oil companies appear to have danced over just as many ethical lines as the Bush administration officials."


The letters were sent to Marvin Odum, President of Shell Oil; David O'Reilly, Chairman and CEO of Chevron; and Ronald Williams, President and CEO of Gary Williams Energy Corporation. The letters can be found on the Select Committee's website here: http://globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases_2008?id=0037#main_content


In the letters, along with asking for detailed records of lobbying expenditures, the following questions are asked, among others:
--Did any senior executives at the companies have any knowledge, at any point in time, that employees were providing gifts to Interior Department employees or officials in violation of federal law?


--Did any senior executives at the companies direct any employee to seek out inappropriately close relationships with Interior Department employees or officials?
--Were any company funds used directly or on a reimbursable basis to provide prohibited gifts to Interior Department employees?


--Did the oil companies allocate funds in advance for the purchase of gifts for Interior Department or any other Bush administration employees or officials?
"From funding global warming deniers to fighting the expansion of renewable energy, Big Oil has done America no favors," said Rep. Markey. "In doing many unethical favors for Bush administration officials, and expecting reciprocation when oil is bought and sold, the oil companies are continuing a long-established, disappointing trend."


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